Falconry Fae: The Bit
Content warnings: mouth gore; burns, including inside the mouth; light ear gore; coughing up blood; dehumanization; degrading language; forced haircut.
“Still, –still, beast!”
A pair of hands latches onto the fae’s ears, twisting them cruelly. Strands of long black hair, caught in the fingers’ indiscriminate vice, snap and pinch free. The fae trills, high and panicked, in the back of their throat. Pointed teeth slot neatly into each other, clenched tight behind lips pulled back in a helpless, terrified snarl. The fae pushes back against the human firm behind them, straining at the ropes binding their arms and wings and digging taloned toes into the ground in an effort to lean away from the iron contraption being shoved at them by the other human. They’ve been docile since they were netted and brought down, but the sight of iron fills them with fear too large to be tamed.
A loop of iron sits at the center of the device, protruding from a fine wire mesh wide enough to fully cover their mouth. A looping assembly of leather set with buckles and belt-notches is connected to the sides of the mesh, open to allow their head into its web.
Please, please don’t, please don’t put it on me, not iron, please–
The fae’s pleading falls, quicksilver and light, laced with glinting strands of starsong. The human in front of them falters, arms drooping like they’re suddenly bearing a mountain instead of a metal bauble.